Depends on why people check into places. Is it their daily human need to publish their location? Or is it that they saw a silly idea and decided to have some fun playing along. If the latter, why wouldn't they use 4square for that instead the serious FB?
Facebook Places Will Crush Foursquare
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Re: Facebook Places Will Crush Foursquare
#12Maybe, but I'm not sold yet. Yeah Facebook has 500 million plus users, so even if there's a 1% conversion rate they'll have the same or more users than Foursquare. That's huge, especially because Facebook has a much more diverse audience than Foursquare. But...I can't help but think about Buzz. Gmail had those 170 million users. Sure Twitter was around, but how could Buzz fail when there was this huge existing audien…
They key difference I think is that Google accounts or gmail accounts were not used as the hub of social interaction (like Facebook) when Google launched Buzz. All the hipsters had built these huge networks on Twitter and Facebook already and now suddenly had to re-assemble a social network from scratch based on their GMail address. If history was different and everyone used their Gmail account as their social identi…
That's a good point. But I also wouldn't call Facebook my all encompassing social identity. I don't update my status with everything I tweet; I don't even sync up Foursquare and Facebook because I don't want everyone on Facebook knowing where I've checked in (and I don't think I'm alone because 20% of Foursquare users sync up with Facebook). Many people just find it annoying, but the bigger reason is that I'm not really that 'close' with all my Facebook Friends. If I post a check-in to facebook, I'd only want a fraction of the people to know.
I haven't gotten the rollout yet but hopefully Facebook realizes this and makes Places something you can use with some of your friends, and not all of them.
Re: Facebook Places Will Crush Foursquare
#13This isn't necessarily the place to bring this up, but I take it I'm not the only one who finds 4sq and pals a bit creepy? The 'scary' side of social media has long been a favourite topic in the mainstream press - and in this case, I think they might have a mild point. I'm sure that 100% HN users are fully aware of the risks of storing personal info online, and will act accordingly - but so many more web users honest…
After reading this, I was a little creeped out: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/jul/23/foursquare
But my general policy with posting online content is if you put it online, don't be surprised when people find out. I think the ad agencies tracking 4sq check-ins is key to monetizing location based services, and I'm all for it because it just makes sense. When/if this happens, 4sq and others will hopefully be transparent about it, so users know what they're getting into.
But if you don't want people/companies to know where you shop, don't check in. Simple as that.
Re: Facebook Places Will Crush Foursquare
#14People put up with Twitter and Foursqure updates because you choose whom to follow. Facebook relationships are reciprocal so I'll get flooded with Facebook places updates from my aunts going to church even though I'd never actively choose to follow them on a site like Twitter.
It reminds me of the Achewood blog post where Roast Beef relates a conversation with Ray where Ray thinks McDonalds starting to sell fancy coffee will put Starbucks out of business. http://rbeef.blogspot.com/2008/01/mcdonalds-vs-starbucks-vs-...
Re: Facebook Places Will Crush Foursquare
#15In February, this same publication declared, "Google's Buzz Puts Facebook, Twitter On Notice": http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2359017,00.asp I'm detecting a pattern.
Yeah, and if it were not to happen they'll write: "Here is how Foursquare resisted the Facebook juggernaut", and there extra profit. grin
You can't even think they are naive: that a small company has beaten a larger one seem to happen quite (more) often in the tech world.
Re: Facebook Places Will Crush Foursquare
#16This is kinda bad news for Loopt if anything. I was sure facebook would check out Loopt towards sqrt(4^2) before the competition does.
Re: Facebook Places Will Crush Foursquare
#17I think its way more likely that if/when twitter launches a location product similar to foursquare that /that/ will do them in. Facebook is for a different type of relationship (at least to me) whereas 4sq/twitter is more selective- Who do I want to follow. I feel that twitter could completely replace 4sq, as their is nearly 100% overlap in that space anyways.
Re: Facebook Places Will Crush Foursquare
#18The utility of location based services has a strong network effect. For finding friends, they need to be on the service. For coupons & deals, business development is far easier with a larger audience.
Interestingly, one way to be ubiquitous is to open up the service as a platform. That means that it makes sense for Facebook to let Foursquare & Gowalla use the platform. Those using Foursquare and feeding into Facebook make Facebook more useful.
It also matters whether location is a way to drive engagement for Facebook, or if they expect deals to be a major revenue driver. I highly doubt even a large effort on local deals and coupons would earn significant revenue for Facebook relative to their astoundingly successful ad system. They aren’t mutually exclusive of course, in that they can have hooks for their ads to leverage places. Ignore for a moment that mobile ads are universally horrible and Facebook doesn’t have any (yet).
This makes me think Foursquare can still grow by being the best place to find deals. From what I’ve seen, Foursquare’s business development is rock solid. Also, Foursquare’s mission isn’t about location based checkins but to make cities more useful. So I think everyone will be just fine.
Re: Facebook Places Will Crush Foursquare
#19I'm always shocked when people on the witness stand recall with crystal clarity what happened on a night two years ago. You know some of that is made up. Facebook Places would certainly take the guesswork out of such things.
The impact of location-based services on the legal system reminds me that the root meaning of "alibi" (in the Latin) is "elsewhere" (from the broad idea of "other there," ibi being the Latin word meaning "there").
This to me is a somewhat creepy reminder that modern technology does not necessarily mean unalloyed progress. With the good comes the bad, and the bad here is a long-term trend by which people can be traced more and more easily in where they are and what they do. In the right hands (true friends), this can be great; in the wrong hands, maybe not so good.
Re: Facebook Places Will Crush Foursquare
#20People put up with Twitter and Foursqure updates because you choose whom to follow. Facebook relationships are reciprocal so I'll get flooded with Facebook places updates from my aunts going to church even though I'd never actively choose to follow them on a site like Twitter. It reminds me of the Achewood blog post where Roast Beef relates a conversation with Ray where Ray thinks McDonalds starting to sell fancy cof…
I'd assume just like Farmville and everything else, with one click you can hide all Facebook Places updates. You just can't pick and chose who to receive which updates from. It's either hide the person or hide the app, not 'hide this app for this person'.